President Trump intends to meet in person with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as soon as next week, and he plans to follow up shortly afterward with a meeting between himself, Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the plan.
Mr. Trump disclosed his plans in a call with European leaders on Wednesday, the people said. The meetings would include only those three men, and would not include any European counterparts. The European leaders, who have tried to play a coordinating role on meetings to end the violence between Russia and Ukraine while supporting their European neighbor, appeared to accept what Mr. Trump said, one of the people familiar with the call said.
It was not immediately clear if Mr. Putin or Mr. Zelensky have agreed to the plan Mr. Trump described. But Mr. Zelensky was on Mr. Trump’s call with European leaders, saying in a statement afterward that he had a “conversation with President Trump” and that his and European leaders’ position was that “the war must end,” but “an honest end.”
The call also included the leader of the United Kingdom, the German chancellor and the NATO secretary general, along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Mr. Trump gave some details of the call in a post on his social media site, saying Mr. Witkoff had met for several hours in Russia with Mr. Putin. He did not mention his plans for his own summits.
“Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. “Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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